A manuscript that was destroyed in a fire - except for the few fragments that survived. The author? Tragically died at the same time.

Fast forward 50+ years later and Caddie, a bookseller, visits an exhibit and sees the fragments. There, she meet Rachel - who somehow knows more about the book than previously know. And this is virtually impossible...as everyone who knew about the book had died. 

This book is that delicate balance between historical fiction and mystery. While there are (fairly obvious) twists, it's still a fabulous read. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Australian novelist Toni Warren divides her latest novel, The Fragments, between Brisbane, Pennsylvania, and New York City, between the 1980s and the Interwar period, between the research realm and the literary realm being researched.  

Caddie Walker, a young bookseller, takes time off to attend the art gallery showing of burned fragments of Inga Karlson’s lost second novel, The Days, The Minutes.   Karlson and her publisher had died a tragic and mysterious death in a New York City warehouse fire nearly a half century earlier, and all copies of The Days, The Minutes had gone up in flames along with the printing plates just before Karlson’s book was scheduled for release to the eager public.  Because of the first novel’s fame, the strange circumstances surrounding the author’s death, and the destruction of the anticipated second novel, Inga Karlson had captured the attention of literary researchers hoping to solve the mysteries of her death and the nature of her lost novel.   Over the years, scholars had already churned out articles and books revealing the little they could glean about the reclusive author who died before her thirtieth birthday and spawning conspiracy theories while attempting to explain her tragic death.

After viewing the fragments, a few charred pages that had survived the fire and were now on a world tour, Caddie encounters an elderly woman outside the museum.  When Caddie quotes her favorite sentence from one of the fragments, the old woman tells Caddie there was more and adds several words to what already sounded like a complete sentence.

Later, thinking about the strange encounter and thinking that this old woman may know something about Inga Karlson, Caddie determines to find the stranger, who had identified herself only as Rachel.
Hoping for leads, Caddie turns to others interested in Inga Karlson and sets off a search for Rachel, who might be able to tell the world at least a little something about Karlson or her lost second novel.  With a bit of romance but more old-fashioned research in the pre-Internet 1980s, the story of Caddie’s search for the elderly Rachel alternates with young Rachel’s story from the 1920s and ‘30s, and culminates in a brilliant scene back at the museum on the eve of the fragments’ removal and shipment to the next museum on the tour.

Toni Jordan’s The Fragments is a book for book lovers, a book for researchers determined to unearth the unknown, a book for mystery lovers eager to figure out the next mystery.

A enjoyable book, The Fragments is about a manuscript that gets destroyed by fire in 1930's New York, only a few fragments of the book remain. It's revered  author famously perished with it. Fast track to 1980's Brisbane where bookseller Caddie goes to an exhibition featuring the fragments of the book, where she meets mysterious stranger Rachel, who seems to know more lines in the book than the fragments reveal. This seems impossible however, as the only people who had ever read the book perished in the fire. 

This sends Caddie off on a quest to discover the truth about the book, it's author, and the elusive Rachel. What was the truth behind the fire? Did anyone else really read the book? And is Rachel legit or an imposter, making the words up on a whim?

While I did enjoy this book, I much preferred the timeline set in Brisbane, probably because I live there and am aware of the locations mentioned in the book. On the other hand I found the New York timeline quite tedious and found myself bored on those alternate chapters. And as for the twist at the end, I could see it coming a mile off. I am happy that I've read this book, but I don't think it's particularly memorable.

My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Toni Jordan, and Text Publishing. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Fragments of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.  I am thrilled to recommend this work to friends and family.  

'The Fragments' is a taut, intricate tale told very well. We have Allentown, PA from 1928 through 1938 told in the first-person voice of this young student, then silk-weaver Rachel Lehrer, a woman who understands male dominance and abuse from a tender age. We travel with her in 1939 to New York City. We see this glorious city through Rachel's eyes, always something newly built, something cutting edge, books and movies and film stars - and the slow slide to the financial crash, European rumbles of impending war, life on the fast track, faltering. Then Rachel meets Inga Karlson, author of an inspirational and widely acclaimed Pulitzer prize-winning first novel, 'All Has an End' with the second novel in its middle stages and the general public waiting impatiently for book two. Until the fire. All the copies of the second novel, 'The Days, the Minutes', along with the only two people who had read the novel, publisher Charles Cleborn, and author Inga, are burned in a warehouse arson fire. Left are half-burned fragments of several assorted pages of type, a melted glass necklace, and memorabilia and correspondence between Inga and Charles found in their offices.

Then we have Brisbane, Queensland, 1986. Cadence "Caddie" Walker was named by her gentle father after the main character in 'All Has an End'. She inherits a bit of her father's obsession with Inga Karlson. Caddie is a bookseller in a local private book store and takes an afternoon off to attend a traveling display of memorabilia from the life of Inga Karlson including those fragments, funeral photos, obituaries, letters, and correspondence from people all over the world to Inga, both after her death and still today. There Caddie meets an older lady who laughingly quotes from the second book - including a line that was not present on the fragment of paper in the display. Caddie was feed Inga from birth - her father read her passages from 'All Has an End' at bedtime and often quoted her work in the everyday life they shared. She knew Inga's work intimately. The concluding line fit too well to be random. But no one else has ever read 'The Days, The Minutes'. Or had they?

In trying to solve the puzzle of 'The Days, The Minutes', Caddie is torn between an old love and a new possibility. How can she be sure she is making the right choice? And what happened to Inga's secretary, Rachel?

"Inga Karlson died in a fire in New York in the 1930s, leaving behind three things: a phenomenally successful first novel, the scorched fragments of a second book - and a literary mystery that has captivated generations of readers.

Nearly fifty years later, Brisbane bookseller Caddie Walker is waiting in line to see a Karlson exhibition, featuring the famous fragments. A charismatic older woman quotes a phrase from the Karlson fragments that Caddie knows does not exist. Caddie is jolted from her sleepy life in 1980s Brisbane, and driven to uncover the truth about this fascinating literary mystery."

This is the kind of literary mystery I'd personally love to solve!

This book is part mystery and part historical novel.  Inga Karlson was the literary phenomenon of her day.  Her one book was considered a masterpiece. But then, right before the publication of her second book, she dies in a warehouse arson fire and the book is almost completely lost as well.  Only a few pages, fragments, remain.  

Fast forward fifty years and Caddie Walker is a bookseller in 1986 Brisbane.  She goes to see an exhibit on The Fragments and meets an elderly woman, Rachel,  who quotes from the Fragments.  But her quote is longer than what appears on paper.  

We also see Rachel’s life starting in Depression Era Pennsylvania.   The chapters alternate as Rachel grows up and Caddie tries to solve her mystery of who the elderly woman is and what she knows.  

This book took a while to grab my interest.  It’s slow moving and it really wasn’t until almost the halfway point that I was drawn in.  Which doesn’t mean I didn’t get incredibly frustrated with Caddie.  I’m sorry, I like my main characters to be smart.  The ending was predictable and a bit of a disappointment.  

My thanks to netgalley and Text Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

An interesting literary mystery that makes you think about authorship and what ifs. 
A long lost manuscript appears out of nowhere after 50 years, helping a lost researcher (Caddie) to get back on track with her academic work and also get her revenge on the person who pushed her away. 
On the other hand, the manuscript itself has its own story: the only galley saved from being burnt together with all the books and casting matrices, one of the few things a lover is left with for 50 years.
I liked the twist in the end, but I would have liked a few more plain answers, closure.

Well done.

A mystery, fifty years in the making that will have Caddie Walker looking into that long-ago fire and the woman who may just have the answers, that the World has been waiting for. 

Told from two alternating timelines, 1938 and 1986, The Fragments is a lovely and well-executed concept!

Now that I’ve sat down to write a review of Toni Jordan’s The Fragments, I’m not sure what I should say. On the one hand, I devoured this literary mystery. On the other hand, the ending twisted in a way that made me reconsider all of the positive feelings I had for one of the plot lines and not in a good way. Normally, I have a strong no-spoilers policy. With The Fragments, I think I might have to recommend this book with a whopping caveat about an ending that may or may not make the potential reader dislike the book.

In Brisbane in 1986, a young bookish woman attends an exhibit of the life of author Inga Karlson, who was tragically killed along with her editor when an arsonist set fire to the warehouse that held the only copies of her last novel. Only fragments remain of that book. Karlson’s first novel is frequently referenced by the characters as one of the greatest books of the twentieth century; our protagonist is even named for the main character. At this exhibit, Caddie has a chance encounter with a woman named Rachel. Rachel is a prickly woman, but Caddie is instantly hooked when Rachel quotes a line from Karlson’s last novel…one that does not appear in the recovered paper fragments.

While Caddie and a reluctant bookseller (who grows closer to Caddie over the course of the book) try to track down Rachel and maybe, finally, solve the mystery of who killed Karlson and her publisher, another plot takes us back to the United States in the mid-1930s. Rachel, a poor young woman from a violent home, escapes to New York and begins to build a new life for herself. She meets Inga Karlson while working as a waitress. Inga would have caught her eye anyway, even if the young author hadn’t turned out to be a bit of a kleptomaniac around the chocolate.

The two plots race along. We know from the beginning that Rachel is in danger the longer she stays with Inga. Caddie’s danger is less physical, but no less real. As she tries to find answers in library archives and interviews, she runs the risk of losing everything to an unscrupulous professor who wants to make another big, academic splash. I was totally hooked on both stories. I adored the characters, but it was the plot that really had me. Unlike a lot of other literary-themed mysteries, this one had real, believable stakes and a lively plot.

The ending, though. I’m not going to totally ruin The Fragments by saying what actually happened. I will say that the twist at the end was so abrupt that I flipped back and forth more than once to figure out if I’d missed something. I had not. When I realized what actually happened in those critical paragraphs, I had to immediately revise everything I knew about a major character. I flipped from sympathy and sadness at their fate to anger about their lies. In the past, I haven’t really had qualms about recommending books that were mostly good. The good usually outweighs the bad or unpleasant. I’m honestly not sure if that’s the case with The Fragments, which is a pity because I was really enjoying this novel.

So, for the first time that I can remember, I’m recommending a book not just with reservations, but with a spoiler warning.

The Fragments tells 2 stories, separated by time and location, but are intertwined in an unexpected way.
 
Caddie grew up with and loved Inga Karlson's one iconic novel. Inga died in a terrible fire before her second novel could be published. All that is left are some fragments. At an exhibit about Inga's life and work, Caddie comes across an elderly woman who quotes a line from Inga's work that does not appear in any of the existing fragments, thus the mystery begins. Caddie is sure that there is something going on and she works tirelessly to figure out the truth.
 
The novel alternates between Caddie's life in present day Australia where she investigates what really happened to Inga, to the story of Rachel in America, a friend of Inga's.
 
The story is lovely and I enjoyed learning about all of the women involved, from the shy Rachel, to the eccentric Inga, and the tormented Caddie. Their lives were woven together masterfully. The one thing that bothered me were Caddie's decisions sometimes -- they seemed strange and more designed to further the plot than feel authentic. However, the ending and good writing more than makes up for any shortfalls.
 
 
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.

I've always been intrigued by serendipity, and this book is filled with it. It starts in Brisbane in 1986, when Caddie, a bookseller, visits an exhibition of bookfragments saved from a fire. She meets a mystery woman who quotes more from the book than what's on show. Before Caddie gets the chance to ask questions, the woman is gone.
The story moves to 1938 New York City, where Rachel, a young girl new in town, meets a lady writer, who takes her under her wings.
From here we move from Brisbane back in time, solving the puzzle of the missing fragment by trying to find the mystery woman. At the same time we move from New York onward in time, finding out what really happened to the book.

The characters are true to life, each one as indepth and exciting as the other. There's no rush. History has a lot of stories to tell and the book has just the right pace to keep me glued. There's a good distinction between American and Australian culture with a touch of European added to the mix. Being surrounded by books makes this one a soft place to fall. 
As the plot thickens, there's a sudden shift in honesty and I start to dislike some of the characters. Luckily, it's all for the good of the story and the twist in the end is amazing. 

Thank you Netgalley and Text Publishing for the ARC.

So well written kept me racing through the pages a book that takes us back in time .A book so well written I never saw the twist coming.#netgalley#textpublishing.

A mystery involving the charred remaining fragments of a highly anticipated second book from a celebrated author who died in tragic circumstances and  a young book seller in Brisbane , The Fragments by Toni Jordan was an entertaining and captivating book.  Inge Karlson  died in a mysterious fire in the 1930's leaving behind a world famous book, the scorched remains of her new work and a riddle that has never been solved. So famous is her story that she  and her work are featured in an exhibition which has travelled the globe. When it visits Brisbane, bookseller Caddie , who is named after the main character in Inge's famous first work, is eager to experience the exhibition, but finds her curiosity truly piqued when an elderly lady at the show quotes a line from the fragmented manuscript remains, one that Caddie believes to be real, even though it is not to be found in any of the official exhibits. So excited is Caddie by this, she embarks on  a quest to try to solve the mystery of what really happened that fateful night when Inge died along with every copy of her book. While we as readers follow Caddies research as she works to solve the mystery, we also learn the truth of Inge's story through a second narrator, the elderly woman who Caddie met at the expo, and the one person who may really know what happened that fateful night. 
Both stories and timelines are deftly woven together, in a way that manages to keep the reader equally interested in both aspects of the story, something that is not easy for a writer to accomplish. The writing itself is assured and polished throughout, and the pacing of the book is excellent, it never flags and reaches a dramatic and satisfying conclusion. The character of Caddie really resonated with me, her struggle to figure out what she really wants from life is one that is all too familiar to many of us I am sure. 
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I liked the concept of this novel
but felt it was lacking something 
which made me feel I could not connect with it
I did like the twist at the end 

Thank you netgalley, Toni Jordan and Text Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book

I loved this book by Toni Jordan, an award winning Australian author. The book is set in Brisbane in the 1980's but the plot takes us back to the 1830's in New York an revolves around a literary mystery. Perhaps the greatest literary mystery of all time!  You will enjoy the twists and turns and mind-minding suspense as the book hurtles you forward to a surprise ending. Five stars!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

For Caddie Walker, who is a super fangirl of famed author Inga Karlson, viewing the fragments of her last book, "The Days, The Minutes",  which remained after the fire in 1938 took the life of the author and the rest of the book, is a dream come true; but while meandering the display she meets an elderly lady who quoted words she know the author never had printed but she is sure are from her.  The book follows in a dual timeline, told in 1938 before the fire and 1986, the current timeline.  I love dual timeline stories, they are by far one of my favourites.

While this book had a lot going on for it, I could not get into the main character, she made ridiculous decisions, and I just could not connect with her.  This made my enjoyment of the book less, I wanted more suspense and less personal stuff. but I felt the middle section the book dragged on and on, but I did enjoy the ending quite a bit.

Toni Jordan fabricates an absorbing account around the existence of seven fragments that are all that remains of author Inga Karlson’s legendary second novel.

Caddie Walker, named for the primary character in Karlson’s Pulitzer winning first novel, All Has an End, visits an exhibit of the author’s life and work where she encounters Rachel Lehrer who quotes a line that does not appear on any of the fragments.  There is no one alive, supposedly, who has read The Days, The Minutes, the second novel that was completely destroyed in a warehouse fire in 1938 that also took the lives of Karlson and her publisher, Charles Cleborn.  Now, Caddie is curious, so she begins to investigate the possibility that someone else read the novel.  

The narrative in The Fragments moves back and forth between Rachel and Inga’s story in the 1930’s and Caddie’s in 1986.  Caddie researched and wrote her thesis on All Has an End only to have it stolen and published as a successful paper by Professor Philip Carmichael, her adviser at the time.  With this new clue, Caddie reaches out to two professors, Jamie Ganivet and Philip Carmichael, seeking information that might reveal who else might have had access to the novel in 1939.

Ms. Jordan spins a fascinating yarn with believable characters and sets a compelling pace.  An impressive read.

When Inga Karlson died in a fire in a NYC warehouse in the 1930s, she was the acclaimed author of a best-selling novel. Her second novel was eagerly awaited by the thousands and thousands of fans around the world. Karlson only allowed two people to see the new novel: her publisher and herself. The warehouse she died in was the depository for her new novel. The only thing left after the fire was extinguished were a few fragments of her new book and two bodies.

In the 1980s, Caddie Walker, in Brisbane, is a huge fan of Karlson so is willing to stand in the heat of the scorching summer to see an exhibition of Karlson memorabilia, including the fragments of the author’s second novel. In a chance conversation with an older woman standing in that same line who quotes a few words that Caddie, and only Caddie, believe is from the book that only two people had ever seen. The woman disappears before Caddie can question her leaving Caddie with a quest.

This is a well written book, told in two different timelines, that hold your attention as Caddie begins to investigate a mystery that everyone else believes is already solved. As Jordan leads Caddie down that rabbit hole, she is careful to dole out just enough information so the reader may assumes she knows what the outcome will be. If that will be you, don’t stop reading because the mystery continues on through the last chapter. 

If you like mysteries that subtle, well-written with well-drawn characters this is the book for you. You’ll want to put at or near the top of your to-be-read pile.

Thanks to Text Publishing and NetGalley for an eArc.

When I realised that Toni Jordan's The Fragments was published by Text Publishing, I knew I had to read it. Their fiction list is superb and I have enjoyed every novel of theirs I have read.  The Fragments is no exception.,

A dual narrative, The Fragments is a literary mystery that tells the story of famous first time author Inga Karlson who died in a mysterious fire before the publication of her second novel in the 1930s, and Caddie Walker, a bookshop worker and fan of Karlson's writing., living in 1980s Brisbane.  While visiting an Inga Karlson exhibition (the 'fragments' of the title, Caddie falls into conversation with an old woman who appears to know lines from the lost second novel. Intrigued, Caddie tries her hand at solving the mystery that has stumped the literary world (and the New York police) for over fifty years.

The narrative switches between Caddie's search for the truth, and Rachel Lehrer, a young woman who befriends Inga in New York and becomes close to her.. Both 1930s America and 1980s Brisbane are well-drawn and as the narratives become ever more entwined, I genuinely was willing Caddie on to find the answer (and ditch the dreadful Phillip!). 

I did find the ending a little abrupt and the plot twist quite obvious, but I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it.

I just could not get into this one. I felt wholly disconnected from and not immersed in the characters and setting. I don’t know if it was me or if it was the book, so I will be generous with my stars.